GREAT ALASKA ALL-STAR SUPER JAM – Introducing the first ever presentation of Alaska premiere musicians, jamming together on the Great Alaska Borealis Theatre stage!

BUT WAIT – THERE’S MORE!

In Collaboration with AKIMI (Alaska Independent Musicians Initiative), GAMF has brought together some of Alaska’s most talented musicians to perform on the “Showcase Alaska Stage.” Throughout the festival, more than a dozen local artists will light up the stage with music grown right here in the 49th State.

Hope Social Club

With their mix of blues, rock, soul, folk, funk, these talented friends & musicians are dedicated to elevating the Alaskan music scene.VISIT WEBSITE

Super Saturated Sugar Strings

Powerful and funky, The Super Saturated Sugar Strings’s take on modern Americana is full of dense, intricate, virtuosic instrumental arrangements and shout-to-the-rafter vocals. Their lush back-beat-americana-meets-chamber-ensemble sound has stirred a large congregation of dedicated fans in Alaska, and is catching on quickly across the rest of North America. On their new album, ALL THEIR MANY MILES (released March 23, 2018) they’ve managed to translate not only the high energy stomp and swing of their live shows to the studio, but also to capture some of the magic that brings together Anchorage’s music community. There’s an element of carnival sideshow in their sometimes cinematic sound, drenched in strings and horns and bombastic ideas. Nobody does anything small in Alaska, and this Alaskan band delivers a mesmerizing and powerful performance with an energetic charm that makes you want to take them home for dinner.VISIT WEBSITE

Kyle Hollingsworth Band

In between String Cheese Incident Tours and releasing a new album Kyle Hollingsworth will be performing with his band at the Great Alaska Music Festival.
Thirty years ago, Kyle Hollingsworth set out on a career in music. With a wealth of desire and an abundance of ability, Hollingsworth has established himself as a formidable and versatile music talent deftly able to contribute, collaborate, compose, and communicate on a number of levels and within a vast spectrum of musical environments. Today, as a member of acclaimed jam masters The String Cheese Incident, Hollingsworth is revered by both peers and fans for his ability to write and perform in a mosaic of styles, from rock to classical, ragtime to bebop.

Playing in String Cheese Incident has allowed him unrestricted access to the world of music, and has bestowed on him the kind of fearlessness a composer needs to flirt with such disparate genres. Those who’ve seen SCI know that they can jerk from funk to bluegrass on a chord change.VISIT WEBSITE

Chris Robinson Brotherhood

When the Chris Robinson Brotherhood headed into the studio to begin recording their new album, Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel, no one knew just what to expect. These would be the band’s first recordings with new drummer Tony Leone (Ollabelle, Levon Helm), their first since the departure of founding bassist Mark “Muddy” Dutton, and their first time producing themselves. But as anybody who’s been following the CRB can attest, this is a band that thrives on the unexpected.

If you need proof, just go back to 2012, when they first emerged on the national stage by releasing not one, but two acclaimed full-length albums within a few months of each other. Critics hailed their sprawling debut, Big Moon Ritual, as a revelation, with Uncut calling it a “tenderly-executed piece of work…[that’s] both earthy and transcendent,” while The Independent raved that Robinson had “finally found the ideal vehicle to indulge his taste for ‘Cosmic California Music.'” The reviews were similarly ecstatic for its immediate follow-up, The Magic Door, which was praised by Relix as “classic rock in the finest sense.” The band’s relentless tour schedule brought their shimmering acid-Americana around the world for a staggering 118-date tour, firmly establishing the CRB as the new standard-bearers of the psychedelic roots torch.

In 2014, they returned to the studio for Phosphorescent Harvest, a masterful collection that showcased the blossoming songwriting partnership between Robinson and CRB lead guitarist Neal Casal. Rolling Stone raved that the album was “electrifying…boast[ing] a vintage rock vibe that’s at once quirky, trippy, soulful and downright magnetic,” and Guitar World called it “a treasure trove of soul that advances the band’s bluesy, kaleidoscopic sound.”

On each of those albums, the songs and arrangements had been locked-in prior to the sessions, but heading back into the studio for Anyway You Love…, Robinson purposely left as much open-ended as possible, embracing the lineup changes and leaning into the virtuosic improvisational chemistry that’s always made the band’s live shows such enthralling spectacles.

“Instead of seeing these things as challenges, we started to see them as something exciting,” explains Robinson. “It was an opportunity to see where our expression could take us. Some people get really uptight when they’re making records, but for us, the looser it gets the better. It’s all about taking our intuition and following it to where our ideas can really manifest themselves. This turned out to be the most spontaneous record I’ve ever been a part of.

Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen

Award winning Alaskan returns to his ‘old home’, this time as a 2015 Grammy Nominee and 2014 & 2016 IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Instrumental Group of the Year.

With chops so hot, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen were named IBMA’s 2016 Instrumental Group of the Year for the second time, with a third nomination in 2017. Their critically acclaimed album Cold Spell earned a 2015 GRAMMY nomination for Best Bluegrass Album of the Year, yet the accolades don’t end there. Solivan, with banjoist Mike Munford, 2013 IBMA Banjo Player of the Year, award-winning guitarist Chris Luquette and bassist Jeremy Middleton, simmer a progressive bluegrass stew of infinite instrumental, vocal and songwriting skills soon to be featured once again on a new album coming 2018.

Since leaving the cold climes of Alaska for the bluegrass hotbed of Washington, D.C., Frank Solivan has built a reputation as a monster mandolinist – they’ve been named Washington Area Music Association’s Best Bluegrass Band of the Year for four consecutive years, and become a major festival attraction with his band, Dirty Kitchen. Their respect and deep understanding of the tradition collides, live on stage, with jazz virtuosity creating an unforgettable, compelling performance.

Yonder Mountain String Band

Progressive bluegrass pioneers return to Alaska after 7 long years. Blending acoustic bluegrass, rock and countless other influences, Yonder Mountain has redefined the genre and created a sound of their own.

Melding sophisticated songcraft, irrepressible spirit, and remarkable instrumental ability, Yonder Mountain String Band has become one of the most popular live bands of their generation.

Yonder Mountain’s organic, dynamic, and intensely personal brand of contemporary bluegrass-fueled Americana also see the quintet touching upon FM pop, country rock, funk and world music.

In the beginning, their creativity was rooted in rebelliousness. Now, there’s a greater conscious awareness and attention to detail but their natural instincts remain progressive.

Nearly two decades in, Yonder Mountain String Band is still utterly unto themselves, a one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-lifetime combo whose inventiveness, versatility, and sheer imagination shows no sign of winding down

Asleep at the Wheel

Ray Benson founded Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia 48 years ago. Now based in Austin, the band holds 10 Grammy awards, 20 studio albums and 20 singles on the Billboard country charts. The Grammy Award-winning Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys is the band’s most recent release (2015) and marks their third full-length Bob Wills tribute album. Featuring 22 acclaimed collaborations, the all-star lineup includes legends such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and George Strait and newcomers like The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show and many other fine talents.

Asleep at the Wheel is bringing a fresh look, sound and New Album in 2018. With recent additions Katie Shore (fiddle, vocals), Dennis Ludiker (fiddle, mandolin) Connor Forsyth (keyboard, vocals) and Josh Hoag (Bass) Asleep at the Wheel’s newest members have given a newfound energy and their own unique style within the band. Asleep at the Wheel veterans David Sanger (Drums) Eddie Rivers (Steel Guitar) and Jay Reynolds (Saxophone and Clarinet) round out the now 8 piece band. Between those Texas Twin Fiddles and Boogie Piano, you can bet you’ll be dancin’ down the aisles and swingin’ all night long when the Wheel rolls into town!